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Story:Kings of Strife/Part 44
Part Forty-Four Vik grabbed the Chosen Knight by the throat and stared into her glowing eyes with hatred. Hot breath emanated from his tightened jaw like a growl from a wolf, and his vein-lined hands threatened to choke the life out of the woman before him. She offered no resistance; she only looked at him with the influence of the Tyrant. “Cidolas Teftah,” Vik quietly snarled without breaking eye contact. “What is this woman doing here?” Summoned by his words, Cidolas left the bridge of the boat and jumped next to Vik. Not wasting any time, the blond male in the heavy green cloak gripped Vik’s thick forearm with surprising strength. “Do not threaten our allies, Hero of Flame.” “Allies?!” Vik let go of his prey and looked to Cidolas with rage in his chest fit to burst. He was warm, almost sweating, though he did not know whether this stemmed from the matching coat he wore or the fire inside his body. “You call her an ally? She almost killed Silverius and I, twice! She’s one of the Serpent Knights! She’s a part of Ouroboros!” Saying the name of the Serpent Society was almost too much for him to bear without manifesting the unholy black flames. As it stood, wisps of black smoke started to emanate from his right eye, but for now he kept the power in check. None of it made any sense. He had just left behind a Serpent Knight who had promised to kill his father and beloved younger sister – and now here was another, on the boat supposedly leading him to his imprisoned comrade, as an ‘ally’. Serpent Knights killed his original Herohji squad members, Cidolas many times over, almost killed himself and Silverius, and directly killed thousands at Zeta Academy. And now one of them was supposed to be his friend? The raven haired Chosen Knight walked a step closer to him and looked up at the burning passion in his eyes. As if reading his mind, she spoke: “I am very sorry for what the Black Knight is doing to your family.” Without a second thought, Vik threw a punch and sent the Knight sprawling to the floor. “Next time I’ll set my fist on fire, so you’ll have the pleasure of feeling your face melt off.” He stood over her, face contorted with rage, and shook off the quickly advancing ache in his knuckles. “I haven’t hit a girl before, but people like you are lower than dirt, so I don’t think it even counts.” “Whoa, whoa!” The woman named Karilyn ran up to Vik and slapped him, but it had little effect on him. She stood in front of the seething Nneonian and shoved him backwards. “I don’t know what’s happened between you two before, but this is too much! Come on, man! She’s helping us! We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for her!” Vik looked at the short redhead with irritation, but was helpless to her efforts in pushing him back. The Chosen Knight rubbed her bruised jaw as she stood up slowly. Her eyes were still just as cold and just as bright golden as she looked up to her attacker again. “Next time I won’t let you have any hits on me. That should suffice in setting our records straight.” “You bitch,” he growled. “You knew! You knew what he’s going to do, and none of you came to help me, anyway!” Karilyn looked up at Vik with incomprehension, but the Chosen Knight continued to look impartial. “There was nothing any of us could do. If I had interfered, further stages in the plans would not have advanced. He had to have thought you left on your own. The sacrifice was made to further that.” “Sacrifice!” Vik was shaking now, and clenched his eyes shut to prevent any flames from accidentally manifesting. He had long since ripped his eyepatch off and shoved it into his scarf. No matter how irritated his countenance became, tears refused to flow from his eyes. Only regrets. “They’re more than sacrifices… That was my family! I hated my father, but that was my family! My sister… I promised her! I promised her!” He fell to his knees, slamming on the planks of the boat and screaming. Cidolas had long since returned to the bridge when the physical altercations ceased, and Karilyn stood looking down at Vik uncomfortably. The Knight once known as Maria did not change. None of them said anymore for a stretch of time. It didn’t take long for Vik to regain his composure and stand with his head lowered. He forced his eyes to return to their normal chilly blue colors, the same hues as his father’s. Karilyn and the Knight still stood around him, both of their chilling eyes looking over him. “This plan of yours,” he said. “What could you possibly have planned that required the death of my family?” The Chosen Knight crossed her arms. “We’re going to free Silverius, and then we’re going to destroy Ouroboros.” Vik looked to her with open surprise. “What? But… You’re…” “Not anymore.” She shook her head and looked out to the dark seas. By now the boat was moving quietly through the waters, away from Nneoh, and the rocky beach was starting to become a mere vision on the black horizon. “I went looking for answers while you and Silverius fought at Icarun. I went looking, and I found some. What the Leader has planned… what the other Knights have planned… I can’t allow it to happen. I just can’t.” She frowned, and a glimpse of a deeper pain manifested on her face. Vik still felt out of place and confused, but Karilyn stepped towards him and twirled a lock of bleeding red hair around her finger. “I managed to swipe Silverius’ Crystal from Icarun at the last moment, and our blond friend back there found me while I was running away. I didn’t believe any of his story at first, not any more than I believed Silverius was really a bad person. Then we found Chosen here, and when I saw her powers… when I heard her story… I knew we had a chance. We can do something about Silverius, and this world.” “You have a lot of trust for someone you haven’t known for that long,” Vik mumbled. He regretted saying this, considering how hypocritical it was. Still, Karilyn showed no aggression, and only smiled sadly. “I’ve made mistakes before, and I’ve been around bad people. I can tell that Silverius isn’t a bad person… not at heart. He wants to be free. I know it.” “He isn’t,” the Chosen Knight said without moving. Her golden eyes seemed to be searching for something out in the dark waters of the night. “He wouldn’t have saved my life or risked his own to rescue me if he wasn’t. I remember telling him to be happy… and he gave up all of that, to save me.” “Wait,” Vik butt in, “You remember?” He struggled to think back on what he and Silverius had went through in Shorica. “He called you Maria. He said he loved you.” The Knight chuckled. “Yes, that’s correct. But I am not Maria. Not anymore.” She looked down, and closed her eyes as a breath of wind pushed past them all. “I tried to leave Ouroboros before, months and months ago. That was when I first learned of my real origins, and the true plans the Leader has in store for the world. I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape, so I hid and used my own illusory powers to lock my memories and personality away. Sealed away like that, I was supposed to die alone… but Silverius found me, and saved me. He prevented my original plan from going smoothly… but he saved me. He loved me. And I was going to repay him by destroying him and the world.” Admittedly Vik was lost. This was the first he ever heard of the history behind Silverius and ‘Maria’. “So we’re going to save him. That’s fine with me. But… what was this plan that was so horrible? And what does it have to do with Ouroboros gathering the Crystal? Would killing yourself really have solved it that much?” She nodded. “It would have crippled the plan, or at least delayed it enough to cause problems for the Leader. I could never defeat him and all the other Knights by myself. Not when they have all the Njash on their side, and almost all of the world governments, as well… We’ve all been so foolish. Everything has been going in his favor, and we’ve all played our parts like pawns.” The Chosen Knight looked to Vik, and her eyes started to burn with her iconic ruthlessness. “With all the Crystals in his hands, the Leader would induce a world-changing event that would halve its population. The rest of the reeling population would be under his control, and by reintroducing Crystalline magic to the atmosphere, he would force humanity to a magical state of evolution once again. All of life as we know it would change, and he would rule above it all as an untouchable Tyrant.” “In other words,” Karilyn added, “If old snake man gets the Crystals, we’re all fucked.” The Knight’s lips pursed tightly and she raised her hood over her hair. “To change the world, we must first change ourselves. I am the change that will come, as are we all. The Crystals have chosen their Heroes.” “It seems more to me that the Crystal chose its Knights, and you’re one of them,” Vik mumbled. The promise of a ‘world-changing event’ was one he had heard from an Ouroboros henchman before… It was starting to get difficult to disbelieve what the Chosen Knight said. “You don’t have to trust me. I don’t expect that you will. But we will work together to save Silverius, and then the world.” The Knight looked at the other two standing around her, and her bright eyes were visible from beneath the shadow of her hood. “I can expect that from you all, can’t I?” Karilyn nodded her head enthusiastically. “I’ll do whatever I can to save my hide and whoever else I can. Maybe I’ll become a hero and I’ll have the money to fix up my inn, considering Silverius wrecked it…” Vik crossed his arms and looked at the Chosen Knight with narrowed eyes. “I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?” He took a long exhale through his nose. “How are we going to go about saving Silverius, though? Do we even know where he is?” The Chosen Knight’s eyes seemed to flash mischievously for a moment. “I do not know where he is, but I do know he will soon be executed atop the fortress Icarun. That is where we are headed to now; that is where we will save him. We don’t have much time, but the odd blond one has reassured that we will arrive there on time.” “What, so we just break into one of the most heavily guarded fortresses in Inusia, rescue Public Enemy #1, and make off in our nice little ship. No big deal.” Vik shrugged sarcastically. His violet-haired ally didn’t take notice of his dark humor, or perhaps she just didn’t acknowledge it. Either way, her tone was as even as ever. “It will be a vicious battle, but a survivable one. Most of the Inusian soldiers are preoccupied with a much larger cause right about now, and once we make it to Silverius, his Tyrant abilities will be rekindled, thanks to the red one keeping the Crystal of Wind safe.” The ‘red one’ nodded confidently and adjusted her too-large cloak. Beneath it, Vik noticed, she wore the fur collar of another garment; surely she was hot in such an outfit. “I can’t promise I can fight as well as you or Scarface here, or even Blondie, but I’ll do my best. “Scarface…? I have a name, you know.” Vik sighed. No matter what reservations he had, it was hard to dispute the fact that the Chosen Knight seemed confident of her information, and along with her and Cidolas behind him, he was likely at his strongest. If his goals couldn’t be accomplished with them alongside him, they couldn’t be accomplished at all. “Regardless,” he stated as he gave a glance to the cloudy midnight sky above their speedily moving skiff, “How long do we have until this plan goes into actions?” “Less than five hours,” the Chosen Knight replied. “So listen closely.” ***** ‘So this is Icarun,’ Vik thought to himself. He looked up to the old fortress, stone gray and aesthetically ancient in its castle-like architecture. Clearly it had been damaged in the battle with Vainia’s forces, but with the sun starting to rise behind its draconian peaks and high walls, the fortress looked as proud and as impenetrable as ever. It sent a grim message, one that didn’t raise Vik’s enthusiasm for the mission ahead of him at all. ‘I cannot be broken,’ the behemoth of Inusian seastone seemed to proclaim to the world beneath it. ‘The waves may crash against me for centuries, and rebels may bombard me in the night, but I will not be broken.’ It was a good thing that Vik and his allies were going to break into the fortress and not break it entirely. He turned and looked to the two women standing at his side. Both Karilyn Red and the Chosen Knight held somber, focused looks on their faces, and both of them looked to the proud objective just as he did a moment ago. Undoubtedly they were as nervous as he was, if not more. After all, they were about to put all of their lives on the line like never before. If they failed, none of them would ever be able to step foot near Inusian land again – if they lived. “Can this really work?” Karilyn muttered, to the left of Vik. She toyed with a curled strand of amber hair and looked over to the Chosen Knight with trepidation. “Will you really be able to get us inside?” The Knight nodded. “It’s simply a matter of imagining an outcome so strongly that it becomes reality. I will be able to do it.” ‘She says it so simply, but that sounds like an enormous task. The ability to change reality itself… Are the Serpent Knights and the Crystals really that powerful?’ Despite having come in direct contact with both forces multiple times, Vik felt as if he was simply dipping his toe into an ocean before, and now he was about to see a sea monster rise from the dark depths of power. “Surely it will be taxing,” he added. The Knight nodded again. “Of course it will be strenuous, but this mission is worth it. That is why you will be taking on the offense, Flame Hero. As long as you follow my directions, everything will go according to plan.” She had, somehow, laid out an entire map for the fortress, down to the smallest nook. Vik had done his best to memorize the path of their ascent – after teleporting inside the innards of the fortress, Vik would lead the group in a quick and brutal blaze of glory to the roof, where they should arrive just in time to stop Silverius’ execution. At least, that was what the Chosen Knight had told them. Vik could only hope she was true. “This mission is worth it…” Vik couldn’t help but perform a double-take at the Knight’s words. She didn’t seem the type to sacrifice for anyone, let alone someone who had tried to kill her. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you? What could have happened in the past two months to make you care so much for Silverius?” Both Karilyn and Vik probed the violet-haired enigma’s face for any telling answers, but all she did was purse her lips and continue to look forward to the stone beast looming ahead of her. “My revolution was one I had to walk alone… or so I thought. But even after a thousand years, I could never forget the memories he and I made. I only had to understand him.” Before either of them could respond, footsteps tapped from behind the group, and all of the warriors turned to see Cidolas walking towards them with a dark green cloak that matched theirs. In the shadow of Icarun’s height and its cliffs, the cloaks did well of melding them with the darkness, but stealth was not the point of this mission. “We are as close as we can safely be,” the male Cidolas said emotionlessly as he pulled up his hood. “Let us begin.” The Chosen Knight, seemingly eager to move on, agreed enthusiastically. “Come, grab my hands, and close your eyes.” Vik and Cidolas followed her orders; Karilyn held onto Vik’s arm. Unattended, the boat carrying the group swayed on the undulating black waters of the Queen’s Gulf, and drifted closer to the frowning Icarun cliffs. All members of the party closed their eyes except the Chosen Knight, who looked to Icarun’s walls with fierce concentration and glowing Tyrant Eyes. “I order Dreams to embrace my soul,” she began to chant. “Let my eyes see all of the truth, and let what I see become the truth. With my tyrannical soul, let me command even Terra itself!” These were words of power, Vik could feel – he remembered hearing such things from the Lance Knight, all the way back in the Mirage Tower. ‘Didn’t she take the Crystal of Dreams from the Tower? Now the Chosen Knight has stolen it again?’ Before he could make sense of current events and his memories, Vik felt the motion beneath his feet stop. Instantly the air grew less cold, and the tugging of wind on his ears ceased. It was as if he was suddenly somewhere else, like in a dream… With confusion, Vik opened his eyes, and saw that he and his three allies were standing in the darkness of a stone room. Ahead of them, standing near the only door in the room with absolute ignorance and confusion painted on his face, stood an Inusian soldier with a blue mantle around his shoulders. Only an instant passed before Vik acted. He ripped his hands free from the grips of Karilyn, C0, and Cidolas as he jumped forward, planting his knee right in the chest of the frightened Inusian man. The force slammed the man into the stone wall to his side and he coughed up a heave of blood and spit; immediately afterwards, Vik grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall, hard enough to knock him unconscious. The man groaned as he fell to the ground, helpless. Vik found himself panting with wide eyes as he looked back towards the group. “What the hell was that? You couldn’t imagine a room without people in it…?” He trailed off as he spoke – the Chosen Knight was slumped, almost falling to the ground, only held up by Cidolas and a concern-filled Karilyn. “Whoa, are you alright?” Despite himself, Vik started towards the Knight with worry. ‘Just how taxing was that ability?!’ “I’m fine,” the Knight answered with a barely-audible moan. “We stick to the plan. You two just have to cover me.” She had her eyes clenched tightly shut, and what looked like dark tears of blood welled up near them. With black-painted nails, her two hands cradled her head as if it were about to burst with pain. Even so, she looked up to Vik from beneath her brow. As she did, Vik found himself shocked still; for the first time, the Knight wasn’t flaunting golden Tyrant Eyes, and he could see that her natural irises were just as unnaturally red as Cidolas’. “Did you hear me?” She asked him. “I said we stick to the plan. That means no mercy. No more physical fighting. We don’t have time for that.” She was right, Vik knew… but still he swallowed his spit and nodded reluctantly with reserve. Attacking non-lethally had been on reflex, and he had been told that he would have to use his Tyrant Flame here… But actually using it on someone was a completely different story. When he thought about it, Vik’s brow hardened, and he remembered for an instant the death of the Haze Knight. The agonizing screams, the scent of burning flesh, and the lack of ashes were the most terrifying aspects of the confrontation. Could he really do that to innocent soldiers, and so many of them? He had no choice. The Chosen Knight was right – it was either kill or be killed. This was all for the sake of Silverius’ life, and that was for the sake of the world’s safety. ‘Killing few for the lives of many… is still killing.’ Karilyn looked from C0 to Vik and frowned at the somber mood. “Come on, you two. We’ve got to move! Let’s focus!” She glanced over to Cidolas for support, but the red-eyed youth only started walking towards the door. “Correct. We will reunite at the top, once the Hero of Wind has been freed. All will be well,” Cidolas said. He walked past Vik and opened the wooden door of the small room. “Wait – what do you mean, reunite? You’re leaving?!” Vik glared at his shorter companion, and only received a soulless gaze in return, as usual. “We have a separate part to play. All will be well. Remember your destiny, Hero of Flame.” Cidolas nodded at Vik, and just like that he disappeared into the dark of the hallway. Vik didn’t bother to look after him; knowing Cidolas’ superhuman abilities, there would be nothing for him to see. A sigh escaped Vik’s lips and he rubbed the scar over his eyebrow, but now he was resigned – and determined. “You’re right, all of you. Come on.” He tightened the purple scarf still over his neck. “Let’s go save Silverius.” Surprisingly, the inside of the gray fortress was barely populated. Harshly cut stones kept the hallways narrow and cold, and a somber palette of rain gray held an oppressive hand over every room. Vik walked in front, both of his eyes blazing a fierce golden, ready to burn – and to kill. Directly behind him stumbled the Chosen Knight, her normal red eyes squinting from the pain, and holding up the rear stood Karilyn Red, her own eyes darting around every corner in barely subdued fear. “It’s quiet down here.” “Too quiet?” Karilyn chuckled, even in the face of the frown Vik directed to her. “Now isn’t really the time for games, I think.” “You’re right, Scarface, but someone’s gotta keep their head up back here. You two are darker than this castle.” Despite her words, Karilyn was not smiling. Even she could feel the seriousness of their situation. “Most of the soldiers will be on the roof’s observation deck, or close to it,” moaned the Chosen Knight. By now she had regained most of her proud posture, though her Tyrant Eyes had not returned to their powerful state nor did her pale pallor fade. “That will be when you will be tested the most, Hero of Flame. By then we will have all returned to our most powerful states, as well.” Vik turned back to his partners with a glance. Karilyn was hauling a wide thing that had a thin black handle and was wrapped in dingy bandages, and he was assuming she used it to fight, but… she didn’t appear very limber and powerful beneath all those robes, and as far as he knew she couldn’t use any form of Crystal-given magic. The woman once known as Maria was crying tears of blood, so strained were her abilities. ‘In other words, this is all on me.’ He gulped and checked that the safety on his pistol was off. The Nneonian led his partners up a narrow flight of stone stairs and slowly opened a wooden door, only to find a wide room filled from wall to wall with computers, blinking lights, and grayscale monitors. Not only that, the room was full with almost a dozen Inusian soldiers. Vik panicked. Instantly the room filled with horrified screams and the unmistakable scent of burning flesh. Before Vik realized what was going on, he was watching a scene of pure terror unfold around him, as men jumped and futilely patted on themselves. Black flames effortlessly evaporated skin and cloth, and the complicated surveillance machines started to smoke and scream with alarm sounds. ‘It was just a second!’ Vik thought, mortified. ‘I lost concentration for just a second!’ He clenched his eyes closed and held his hands over his eyes, focusing and forcing himself to relinquish the flames from existence – and when he finally did, it was too late. The surveillance chamber would have been almost futuristic, before it was gutted by arcane fire. Although the magical flames had been reneged before they could finish their job, every Inusian soldier was dead and their bodies were almost annihilated, either through Vik’s direct vision or frantic movements spreading the fires to their comrades. The flames had disappeared, but dark black smoke still rose near the tall ceiling of the room, and the computers still rang with alarms and error messages. It had taken less than five seconds for Vik’s fire to destroy an entire room and a dozen clueless soldiers. The screams had been quick, loud, and wet with the sounds of liquefying lungs. They hung in Vik’s ears long after the men uttering them died. He paused, his eyes wide open once again and his powers under control. He looked at all the ruined bodies around him and shook. Tears streamed down his own cheeks, but he couldn’t tell if they were made of salty water or blood. “Scarface? Are you okay? What happened up there?!” Karilyn’s concerned voice rang up from the stone staircase, but Vik did not budge from the open doorway, so she nor the Chosen Knight could move up and see the ruthless carnage all around him. Vik shook his head and held his hands over his eyes, silently sobbing without end. The computers had been set ablaze only a minute or two ago, but already smoke drifted and took up most of the room’s air. Vik’s shoulders stabilized when he felt a cold hand clamp down on them. It was the hand of the Chosen Knight, to be sure – and it was steady. It was knowing, comforting, and slightly clenched. It was solidarity and stability, and it was just what Vik needed. The Nneonian stepped into the room with his head low and his shoulders lowered. The Chosen Knight quickly walked in past him and started to examine the computer monitors ahead that still worked; Karilyn walked into the room and audibly gasped. The slight horror that escaped her lips caused Vik to flinch, and the woman noticed. After a moment, she came to Vik and hugged him. “Hey,” she said as she held Vik’s head down to her shoulder. “It’s alright. Okay? We’re good. This is… this is good.” “This is good?!” Although he was frustrated, Vik did not move to break the embrace, though his arms fell limply to his sides. “Sometimes you have to do a little bad to end up with good. Remember what we’re fighting for. It’s going to be okay. You hear me, Scarface?” The woman’s thin fingers gently scratched through Vik’s long, curly hair. Her nails scratched slightly on Vik’s skin, sending tingles running down his spine. Away from the two of them, the Chosen Knight’s swift hands could be heard tapping angrily on the various surveillance consoles. “This reminds me of something,” Vik breathed quietly. “Months ago, back when Silverius and I were chasing Maria – that Knight over there – we came across a house. We were running desperately low on money and supplies, and we had just spent days trekking through the Mirage Desert. This was before the siege of Shorekeep, so… so we had to survive. We had a duty to do, to the world, and he wanted to find Maria so badly… so we broke into this man’s house. We were just supposed to take some money and leave, but… but I…” Vik sighed and shivered. “I killed the man who lived there. I did it so soon, he died in one hit… but I killed an innocent man.” Karilyn was silent. “Hey. You’re a soldier. You have to be strong. Okay? You moved on then and you can move on now. You have people by your side. It’s going to be fine.” The Chosen Knight turned towards Karilyn and Vik and cleared her throat. “He’s being moved to the roof. We are only a few floors beneath him, but the fastest way to get there is full of guards. Going an alternate route would be too costly. We have to get moving, now.” Vik nodded and gently pushed himself free of Karilyn’s embrace. The innkeeper looked up to Vik with shimmering, sympathetic eyes, and he returned her concern with lips drawn in a tight line and a respectful nod. “Just like Silverius – it doesn’t bother you. He had that look in his eyes when he saw the body and all that blood… that look, where he loses all of his humanity. All compassion, all light. It vanishes.” Karilyn held her hands to her heart, and Vik sighed once again. “He said the same thing you are right now – that it’s alright to kill if it’s for a good cause. For justice and urgency. I guess both you and him were right, after all.” A blink, and Vik’s eyes were burning golden again. He nodded at the Chosen Knight. “We’ll go through the fast way, and we’ll get to him in time. I’ll make sure of it this time. We won’t stop again.” Vik started to walk out of the room, and the Chosen Knight followed immediately. Karilyn held a hand to her heart and hesitated, but ultimately followed the two out of the corpse-ridden surveillance chamber. From then on, Vik forced himself to feel no remorse for his actions. Never had he shot a gun or brandished a blade without full knowledge that a weapon he held was dangerous to human life, but now he used his ultimate weapon without an iota of pity or sympathy for those ahead of him. Even in the face of wicked screams and the smell of melting flesh and bone, Vik stood unyielding and adamant. Although he was disassociating from the world around him, almost to the point that he was blindly detached from the chaos he was causing, Vik could always hear the screams and the moans of the men and women he was killing with his vision. ‘They are so small,’ he thought as he walked past a body that fell onto the floor and quickly melted into ashes. An entire hallway loomed in front of him, full of shooting bluecoats and tall doors that led to immaculate prison chambers, but Vik walked forward confidently as if he were strolling across his own property. ‘All of them are so small, and they burn so fast. I rule over them. I control their lives.’ An epiphany came over Vik as he led Karilyn and the Chosen Knight, both of them silent, up another flight of stairs. ‘I have been given the power to rule over men’s lives – is that why they’re called the Tyrant Eyes?’ “Silverius is outside this door,” Vik heard. He stopped, his hand hovering over a metal doorknob, and he returned to his body. Next to him in the small floor entrance room were the Chosen Knight and Karilyn both. Out of nowhere Vik felt incredibly tired, and his eyes grew so heavy so quickly that he could not help but yawn. His head was pounding from the focus, as if he had been studying over ancient documents for hours. Despite how quiet the rain-gray hallways were, his ears were ringing. “We’re at the top already?” Vik asked once he completed his yawn. His eyes were strained, and he squinted to alleviate the effect somewhat. “Already? We… We ascended through 10 floors. The elevators were locked, remember, and there weren’t any remains of bluecoats for us to get into them. No keycards, no nothing. Are you okay…?” Karilyn was still breathing somewhat hard, which did well to confirm that she and the other two had actually walked up almost a dozen flights of stone stairs. She appeared to have noticed Vik’s mental lapse, and she stared at him with earnest eyes. That was odd. To Vik, it had felt like he was simply walking for about ten minutes. “…Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little tired, I guess.” He pointedly avoided making contact with her concern. “You’ve done well,” the Chosen Knight chimed, “and we’ve arrived as soon as was possible. This will do. The red one and I can assist you in battle here, although you still have the only Tyrant powers that can be used here. There will be many enemies, as much as we have encountered so far.” Karilyn sucked her teeth at still not having a name worth being said by the Chosen Knight, but Vik scratched his chin and replied. “Your vision hasn’t recovered yet?” “I must use my Eyes at a very crucial part of the attack. We are at the penultimate phase; from here, most of the plan has been performed swimmingly.” She looked at Vik and gave off a hint of a smile. It was tight-lipped, somber, and lasted for but an instant… but it was a smile. “You did well, Hero of Flame. Thank you.” Karilyn smiled – genuinely – and rubbed Vik’s arm. “She’s right. Not everybody could have done what you did back there. You’re a hero, Scarface.” Vik felt his face growing hot and he rubbed the scar on his temple. “Thank you guys… but we can celebrate once we have Silverius and we’re out of this cold prison.” He clenched his jaw, forcing serious focus, and looked at the hard door standing between the three, the roof, and their objective. “About how many enemies are out there, waiting for Silverius to be executed?” “If we’re lucky, less than 50,” the Chosen Knight said. “We do not rely on luck. Likely there are more than one hundred armed men outside.” “Wonderful.” Vik gave one last scratch over his scar as his hand took hold of the doorknob once again. “Let’s see how our luck is treating us today. Ready?” Both women immediately spoke affirmatives – so Vik turned the knob and pushed the door open with all his might, jostling away two men who were standing guard in front of it. The wide roof of central Inusia Fortress had at least two hundred bluecoats standing at attention, and all of them turned back to see the sudden intrustion. At the farthest edge of the roof, overlooking miles of wasteland and a drop of almost a hundred feet, stood Singun Crono Silverius chained to a tall white pillar. In front of him stood three Inusian bluecoats, each of them aiming a massive cannon-like object at the prisoner. “No,” Karilyn whispered, as the entire roof was surprised silent. After she finished, almost as if on a cue, the entire roof exploded with sound. ...End of Part Forty-Four. <- Previous Page - Abyssal Covenant Arc | Main Page | Next Page ->